192nd Tank Battalion
In 1941, the US Army Chief of Staff, General George C. Marshall, directed that the army’s new M3 Stuart light tanks, then just rolling off the assembly lines,[1] were to have the highest priority in reinforcing General MacArthur‘s command in the Pacific. The activated Army National Guard 194th and 192nd Tank Battalions were each equipped with 54 of the newly manufactured M3 Stuart light tanks, along with 23 half-tracks per battalion.[2] The federalized California Army Guard 194th Tank Battalion deployed from San Francisco on 8 September 1941, arriving in the Philippines on 26 September. That deployment was followed by the 192nd Tank Battalion, which reached Manila in November.[2] The 192nd Tank Battalion was composed of tank companies from:
- Janesville, Wisconsin (Company A, formerly 32nd Tank Company),
- Maywood, Illinois (Company B formerly 33rd Tank Company),
- Port Clinton, Ohio (Company C formerly 37th Tank Company) and
- Harrodsburg, Kentucky (Company D formerly 38th Tank Company).
On 21 November 1941 the 192nd and 194th Tank Battalions were combined to form the Provisional Tank Group under the command of Colonel James R. N. Weaver.[2] With the subsequent commencement of hostilities, and Japanese landings along the coastlines in December, the Provisional Tank Group was ordered to counterattack[3] the landing forces, and to cover the allied retreat towards the Bataan Peninsula.[2]
